Help needed! meter mistakes and backdated bills

janeyjones_2

I moved out of a flat in August and attempted to pay my final bills. I gave the electricity company a meter reading and they sent me a bill for £80 ish which I paid.
They then told me that the meter they had been reading from all along wasn't mine and that they needed to find out the real meter reading and rebill me for the entire 2 years I lived there. As i had moved out I couldn't arrange for them to get access to the flat so passed it back to the landlord. Now, i have received a bill backdated to nov 08 which says i owe an outstanding £250.
Are they entitled to do this even though i have no way of knowing if the meter readings are right, was unaware of any issue for the entire 2 years i lived there, kept up to date with payments and no longer live there?
Or am I within my rights to say it is unreasonable and not pay?

Thanks for your help.

dogshome

Hi janeyjones - I assume that in your old flat all the meters were located in a central service room and when you moved in the one that you were advised was yours, wasn't, and at the start of your tenancy you gave an opening reading to your Elec supplier from a different meter.

This could be a mix-up where the buildings owners have got confused, or a case of the meters being mis-assigned on the national distribution system - It would be of help to know if the meter number on your bills was the same as the number on the meter who's readings you were giving.
Ask your supplier for copies of the bills they issued to you, and if at all possible visit your old flat to check which meter it is that has the same number

However, your supplier only knows what the correct meter was reading a short time after you moved out, what they don't know is what the reading was on the day you moved in !

WRITE to your supplier asking for fully detailed bills to justity the £250 demand and reject anything that lists ESTIMATED readings

macman

You are still responsible for the actual usage during your period of occupation. You were there for two years, did you not take a meter reading yourself in that period, or check your bills against actual readings? Do you at least have your opening and closing readings?